Yamaha YP-D3 - info?

Hello everyone. Tracked down a nice Yamaha YP-D3 at a yard sale for the princely sum of $20. Doesn't seem to be much info about this model on the 'net. As found, someone has installed a Stanton 500 II cartridge in the headshell. Is there a decent stylus upgrade available for it? In addition, I can't be sure that it was installed correctly, as the screws holding the cartridge are all the way towards the front; what is the proper overhang for this 'table? Finally, the headshell's fingerlift seems to have gone missing; is there some sort of replacement available, or would I have to cannibalize another Yamaha headshell for one? Thanks in advance!
-Adam

Slight update: I found a mark on the side of the headshell. Is this to mark the location that the stylus tip is supposed to line up with? Also, what would be a good tracking weight for the Stanton 500 II for testing purposes? I'm thinking 3 grams, since that's within the cartridge's tracking weight range (2-5 grams), and about the most weight I can put on it due to the counterweight's forward travel limit. Once again, thanks in advance!
-Adam

Also, what would be a good tracking weight for the Stanton 500 II for testing purposes? I'm thinking 3 grams, since that's within the cartridge's tracking weight range (2-5 grams), and about the most weight I can put on it due to the counterweight's forward travel limit. Once again, thanks in advance!
-Adam

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It's a DJ stylus and really too high to use on vinyl you care about. Yes 3g for now, but get a new stylus or cartridge. There's a D50E MKII stylus that's supposed to be good if you can find it, otherwise I'd just go for a new cartridge.

For the fingerlift you might just be able to jerry rig something--even just a piece of metal or plastic superglued to the top would work fine.

Thanks for the reply, Howard. I aligned the Stanton cartridge to the dot, and tried it out. Unfortunately, I'm not getting any sound in the left channel. I tested the continuity between the cartridge pins and the appropriate pin on the plug-in end of the headshell, and all four seem to check out ohms-wise. I then (briefly) tried a Technics headshell with a Pickering V-15, and got sound from both channels. Does this mean that the Stanton cartridge is toast? Again, thanks.
-Adam

Update: I went ahead and swapped out the Stanton for a Shure M97xE I had lying around. I plugged the headshell in, and both channels were back. Looks like the cartridge went open. One thing I'm wondering, though: is the M97xE a good match for this arm? I had to turn the counterweight almost all the way back in it's travel to get it to balance.

Also, the unit seems to pick up vibrations, both from inside (in the form of rumble), and outside (I can knock on the desk the TT is sitting on, and hear it through headphones while the record is playing). Is that normal for this sort of TT? Once again, thanks.
-Adam

The Shure weighs 6.6g, which is very average for a cartridge, so either the original headshell is very heavy and/or you might need the aux weight which screwed into the back of the arm. You can really use anything that you can stick back there or a bolt you can find that has the same threads. Or get a lighter headshell, which will supply the missing finger rest, and lower the mass of the arm, making it easier to mate higher compliance cartridges (lower tracking force). These are ideal:

They also come in black and are sold on ebay.
On your headshell, measure the distance between the stylus tip and the end of the rubber washer. It should be 48mm. Use that same distance on any non-Yamaha headshell.

In DD tts the spindle is an extension of the motor, so rumble is noise from the motor. You're not hearing that. You're hearing the plinth vibrate. Either the motor mounts are not well insulated or it's just a buzzy plinth. You might have to stuff some material inside to damp the vibrations. This tt isn't suspended--it used feet for isolation, and when the flex in the feet stiffens over years, the isolation becomes ineffective. You need to set the tt on something to isolate it. A quick and dirty solution is bubble pack.

The Shure weighs 6.6g, which is very average for a cartridge, so either the original headshell is very heavy and/or you might need the aux weight which screwed into the back of the arm. You can really use anything that you can stick back there or a bolt you can find that has the same threads. Or get a lighter headshell, which will supply the missing finger rest, and lower the mass of the arm, making it easier to mate higher compliance cartridges (lower tracking force). These are ideal:

They also come in black and are sold on ebay.
On your headshell, measure the distance between the stylus tip and the end of the rubber washer. It should be 48mm. Use that same distance on any non-Yamaha headshell.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the pointers. As far as I can tell, the Yamaha headshell and Shure cartridge aren't noticeably heavier than the combinations used in my Technics SL-1301 (Pickering V15/D7E with brush) or Pioneer PL-518 (Shure R47EDT w/ generic stylus); of course, with grams involved, exact differences are hard to discern without using a scale. Ironically, the Stanton 500AL II, when installed in the same Yamaha headshell, needed to have the counterweight set almost all the way to the forward travel limit to attain the desired 3 grams. Should I be concerned with the setup being as-it-is, or just leave it alone as long as it seems to work?

In DD tts the spindle is an extension of the motor, so rumble is noise from the motor. You're not hearing that. You're hearing the plinth vibrate. Either the motor mounts are not well insulated or it's just a buzzy plinth. You might have to stuff some material inside to damp the vibrations. This tt isn't suspended--it used feet for isolation, and when the flex in the feet stiffens over years, the isolation becomes ineffective. You need to set the tt on something to isolate it. A quick and dirty solution is bubble pack.

Click to expand...

You are indeed correct; what I'd perceived as rumble was actually vibrations emitted by my computer while it's running. The rubber feet on the bottom of the YP-D3 appear to merely be attached to the bottom, with little if any isolation effect provided by their bottom part. Would it be possible to augment them with stiff springs to improve their isolation properties? Otherwise, I'll probably try the bubble pack idea.
-Adam

I don't know what the 500AL weighs offhand, but the counterweight needed to be far forward to apply the 3g of TF. The Shure, only requires 1.25 or 1.75 g depending on brush up or down. You should run it with the brush down on the Yamaha.

As for the feet, the only way I can think to augment them would be to detach them from the base and put springs between them and the base.

Those springs Balifly linked to look very cool, but Neutron's idea does make sense and is elegant. I gotta check out DIY more often. But it seems to me that the bubble pack (air) would be a quick, if temporary, way to solve the problem.